CHAPTER 2

(A.D. 52)

THE CHURCH

¹Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas (was probably the Jerusalem Council [Acts 15:1-35]), and took Titus with me also.

²And I went up by Revelation (the Lord told him to go), and communicated unto them that Gospel which I Preach among the Gentiles (the Message of the Cross), but privately to them which were of reputation (to at least some of the original Twelve), lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. (If the Twelve, or even James the Lords Brother, repudiated His Gospel of Grace, at least as far as the Gentiles were concerned, this would create an insurmountable barrier.)

³But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek (a Gentile), was compelled to be circumcised (Paul probably took him as a test case):

⁴And that because of false brethren unawares brought in (suggests they were fellow Believers, but their insistence upon the necessity of the Law constituted a denial of Christ in Pauls eyes), who came in privily (subtly) to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus (the Truth of the Gospel was at stake), that they might bring us into bondage (forsaking the Cross always results in bondage):

⁵To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour (Paul would not yield one iota, nor compromise in the slightest); that the Truth of the Gospel might continue with you. (Justification by Faith was on trial.)

⁶But of these (false brethren) who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it makes no matter to me: God accepts no mans person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me (there was nothing anyone there could add to the Revelation given to him by the Lord, as it regards the Cross):

⁷But contrariwise, when they saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision (the Gentiles) was committed unto me (presents the Jerusalem Apostles championing the cause of Paul after they heard the issue discussed in private conference), as the Gospel of the Circumcision was unto Peter (the Jews);

⁸(For He Who wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision (the Jews), the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)

⁹And when James (the Lords Brother), Cephas (Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars (a metaphor), perceived the Grace that was given unto me (the Message of Grace), they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship (a pledge of friendship and agreement); that we should go unto the heathen (Gentiles), and they unto the Circumcision (Jews).

¹⁰Only they would that we should remember the poor (the poor Saints in Jerusalem, who had suffered terrible hardships because of persecution); the same which I also was forward to do. (Paul saw the need, and felt he must respond favorably, which he did.)

PETER

¹¹But when Peter was come to Antioch (Antioch Syria, the city used by God to spearhead world Evangelism), I withstood him to the face (means Paul openly opposed and reproved him, even though Peter was the eldest), because he was to be blamed (for abandoning the Cross and resorting to Law).

¹²For before that certain came from James (gives us all too well another example as to why Apostles, or anyone else for that matter, are not to be the final word, but rather the Word of God itself), he (Peter) did eat with the Gentiles (Peter knew the Gospel of Grace): but when they were come (those from James in Jerusalem), he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the Circumcision. (The problem was man fear. Some of the Jewish Christians were still trying to hold to the Law of Moses, which means they accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but gave no credence to the Cross whatsoever. This ultimately occasioned the necessity of Paul writing the Epistle to the Hebrews.)

¹³And the other Jews (in the Church at Antioch) dissembled likewise with him (with Peter); insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation (hypocrisy).

¹⁴But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel (they were forsaking the Cross), I said unto Peter before them all (Pauls rebuke was in the presence of everybody, the whole Antioch Church), If you, being a Jew, live after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? (Hypocrisy!)

JUSTIFICATION

¹⁵We who are Jews by nature (we ought to know better), and not sinners of the Gentiles (who only know what we tell them because they were not privileged to have the Law as we did),

¹⁶Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law (such is impossible), but by the Faith of Jesus Christ (Faith in what He did at the Cross), even we have believed in Jesus Christ (the Object of Faith must always be the Cross), that we might be Justified by the Faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law: for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified (emphatically so! it cannot be done).

¹⁷But if, while we seek to be Justified by Christ (by trusting in what Christ did at the Cross), we ourselves also are found sinners (if we fail, thereby sinning in some way), is therefore Christ the minister of sin? (Is Christ to blame for our failure?) God forbid. (The Cross hasnt failed. Its we who have failed.)

¹⁸For if I build again the things which I destroyed (revert back to the Law), I make myself a transgressor. (To revert to any type of Law is a departure from Gods Prescribed Order of Victory [the Cross], and is sin).

¹⁹For I through the Law (Christ has perfectly kept the Law and suffered its just penalty, all on my behalf) am dead to the Law (the Law is not dead, but I am dead to the Law by virtue of having died with Christ [Rom. 6:3-5]), that I might live unto God. (This presents that which can only be done through Christ, and never by the Law.)

²⁰I am Crucified with Christ (as the Foundation of all Victory; Paul, here, takes us back to Rom. 6:3-5): nevertheless I live (have new life); yet not I (not by my own strength and ability), but Christ lives in me (by virtue of me dying with Him on the Cross, and being raised with Him in Newness of Life): and the life which I now live in the flesh (my daily walk before God) I live by the Faith of the Son of God (the Cross is ever the Object of my Faith), Who loved me, and gave Himself for me (which is the only way that I could be Saved).

²¹I do not frustrate the Grace of God (if we make anything other than the Cross of Christ the Object of our Faith, we frustrate the Grace of God, which means we stop its action, and the Holy Spirit will no longer help us): for if Righteousness come by the Law (any type of Law), then Christ is dead in vain. (If I can successfully live for the Lord by any means other than Faith in Christ and the Cross, then the Death of Christ was a waste.)